TriOS College Coming to Market Square

Our landlord at Market Square, Realex Properties, yesterday announced that a new tenant was coming to Market Square. The new tenant is TriOS College, which will move from their current location at King and Victoria Streets to the main floor of Market Square.

TriOS has leased the space that was originally targeted for Parmasters Kitchener-Waterloo.

We’ve known for a while that this deal was a possibility. Realex has been forthright with their negotiations.

So, what are the implications for Parmasters KW?

There are really only two implications that are at all significant. First, we will, of course, have to look at other areas within Market Square and re-work our space/floor plan accordingly. This will definitely involve a reconfiguration of the intended layout for our center. The total foot print, or square footage, that we occupy, may also be adjusted to fit into an alternative area within Market Square.

And second, and more importantly, Market Square is about to become more vibrant, with an estimated additional 350 to 400 future patrons of Parmasters KW coming through the property each and every day! This really is an exciting, and positive announcement for Market Square, and thus for us as well.

In short, we’re very pleased and excited that TriOS College is coming to Market Square, and we look forward to exploring ways in which we can work with them to the mutual benefit of their students and staff, and our members and other patrons.

The Waterloo Region Record ran an article on this development, posted on their website yesterday. I spoke briefly with Business Editor Ron Deruyter. The article can be found here, and I’ve also included it, in full, below.


TriOS College moving to Market Square
TheRecord.com

Business - TriOS College moving to Market Square
Record staff

KITCHENER – TriOS College is moving its Kitchener campus into the Market Square building in downtown Kitchener.

The private career college expects to move into 16,000 square feet of vacant retail space on the ground level of the building next spring. Renovations will begin in the fall and classes in the new premises are scheduled to begin May 1, said Realex Properties, owner of the Market Square.

The college’s Kitchener campus currently is housed in a plaza at King and Victoria streets.

“A major reason for choosing this location was a quality building, well located at the corner of King and Frederick streets, right near the heart of the downtown of Kitchener,” TriOS chief executive officer Frank Gerencser, said in an announcement to staff on Friday.

He added that the new location “provides easy transit access” for the college’s students. TriOS also will have access to 125 parking spots in and near the building, he said.

The new location will contain 15 classrooms, including larger rooms for the college’s pharmacy assistant, personal support worker and physiotherapist programs.

The arrival of TriOS will bring 350 to 400 people to Market Square on a daily basis, said Realex.

“It is tremendous for the food court and gives the retailers on the ground floor a chance to be more successful so it should be a great fit all the way around,” said John Vickery, manager of marketing and leasing for Realex.

Market Square is a former shopping centre that largely has been converted into an office complex. Its major tenants include the Waterloo Region Record, engineering firm Stantec Inc., a Nordia call centre and Goodlife Fitness.

A golf training centre was hoping to move into the space TriOS will occupy. Parmasters Golf Training Center unveiled plans to move into the building in 2007, but those plans have been held up because it has taken longer than expected to line up investors.

“We are almost there,” said Stephen Southern, owner of the Parmasters franchise rights for southern Ontario.

Vickery and Southern said they still hope to work out a deal to move Parmasters into other vacant space in the 300,000-square-foot building.

“We are still absolutely committed to the square and downtown Kitchener,” said Southern.

Mississauga-based TriOS was founded in 1992. In addition to its campus in Kitchener, it has schools in Mississauga, Toronto, Brampton, Hamilton, Oshawa, London and Windsor.